Monday, April 26, 2010

Mom Tip Monday: Try, Try Again

Each step of the way, my little boy has been a picky eater. Even at 10 months, when we tried to feed him something new, he would stick his tongue out to taste it before it could go in his mouth. Where in the world did he learn to do that?! If he disapproved, he would refuse to eat anything else for the rest of his meal!!! Meanwhile, I would see my friends throw a bunch of random foods in front of their babies who would happily eat anything and everything up just because they were excited to eat something more interesting than pureed veggies.

THEN, once he finally started trying more solids, we were thrilled that he loved cheese and bread, but if you tried to give him a grilled cheese...he would spit it out immediately. Anything "touching" or seasoned in the slightest bit would be rejected on the spot. I couldn't believe that at just 13 months of age, he was so picky; it was incredibly frustrating. And I was afraid my son would end up eating out of baby jars until he went to elementary school.

When we asked our pediatrician about it, she was even a little baffled because at that age, he really shouldn't be incredibly choosy...it was usually closer to 2 years of age that he would start testing us at the dinner table. However, her advice was simple...she said that what he disliked one week could be his favorite the next. Even though I wasn't incredibly satisfied with that answer because it meant lots of dollars down the drain each week as we "tested" his preferences, I followed her instructions. Some days have been better than others along the way, but recently our efforts have started paying off. Finally, at 17 months of age, he's willing to taste almost anything on our plates, and for the most part, he has liked almost everything he's tried in the past week. Who'd have thunk? So I guess the old saying is true: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again..."

1 comment:

  1. Ha! Kids are so great at stumping the daylights out of you. Pretty soon he'll be eating everything and you'll forget he was ever a picky eater.

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